Upstate New York baby mauled to death by family’s pit bull named Diesel while playing with siblings

Lisa Cittadino holds her young child, Carter, who was mauled to death by the family's dog named Diesel on Sunday night. (GoFundMe)

In the moment an upstate New York mother turned her back on her four children as they played with the family dog Sunday, the pup lashed out and killed her 11-month-old boy.

Little Carter's screams prompted Lisa Cittadino, 32, to turn around as Diesel had her youngest child by the neck after he apparently got too close to the dog's food dish at their Marshall home. Authorities have described Diesel as a 2-year-old pit bull.

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"Diesel was attacking her son," Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol said of the 7:15 p.m. attack in a statement. "She frantically tried to get the dog to release its grip."

She pried Diesel away from Carter by the time first responders arrived, but Maciol says he died from injuries to his neck and face at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Utica.

The attack was witnessed by Cittadino's three daughters, ages 7, 10 and 12.

The sudden act of deadly aggression is a shock to the grieving family who said Diesel never acted violently toward the children. The family had raised Diesel since he was a puppy.

The dog is now in the custody of the Town of Verona Animal Control officers, who will euthanize Diesel at the family's request after a local dog warden refused to take him in, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported.